Serious LGBTQ

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Yeah it's almost funny how bughouse you bring up violence against trans women to try and downplay the importance of us challenging this guys bad ideas about all of this, when quite often violence against transwomen is the result of men who cannot handle their actual real attraction to trans women because they hold beliefs like the ones being talked about here. They lash out at trans women for being threats to their straightness because god forbid a straight man is attracted to a woman.
Honestly, some random insecure man being attracted to me from distance on the street or somewhere (especially if I don´t even see them) and then him clocking me is one of the scariest things for me. They don´t have to date a trans woman without knowing, they can already just get really angry and violent due to not being able to come to terms with having just been attracted to a random trans woman from distance whom they kept creepily inspecting until she or they were walking closer (because obviously women only exist as public property for straight men´s satisfaction to oogle at as much as they desire, right? /s ), thanks to internalized homophobia/transphobia.

I pass at a quick glance, I´ve used the women´s bathroom without problems, but lately when I was going somewhere by train, this usually crowded train station only had 3 middle age macho construction workers who evidently kept staring at me, when suddenly one of them shouted "OH MY FUCKING GOD, WHAT THE FUCK. IS THAT A FUCKING MAN?" and then all 3 of them kept shouting "FAAAAAAAAAAAG" at me. There were no security guards or video cameras or other people being present there at the time, it was still long until the train came. I haven´t felt so physically unsafe in my life. I quickly walked as far away from them as possible, they thankfully didn´t follow me. I haven´t gone out alone in girlmode ever since then, and when doing so while with others, men stare and then laugh at me when they clock me.

Funnily enough, whenever I am in boymode flamboyantly, people don´t give a shit, they couldn´t care less about an apparently gay guy being effeminate. But trans women existing in their general vicinity is often taken as a direct attack by men on their straightness and masculinity, especially when they are together with other guys and might´ve discussed how hot or whatever a trans woman looked like from distance until they clock her and they´ll think they will never live off the shame, so they feel like they have to resort to at least verbally assaulting the trans woman to defend their pride.

It is important to deconstruct internalized transphobia.

Normally, passing consistently would not be that important to me, so long as I´m accepted by friends and at my workplace - but it has to be, due to physical safety being of course extremely important.
 
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Bughouse

Like ships in the night, you're passing me by
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First off I am not remotely ambivalent to trans issues. But thanks for telling me what I am dice.



There will never be a day that people are obligated to be attracted to things (as dice put it bodies, but it's more than just bodies) they are not attracted to. Trying to demand equality in that respect is a battle that makes you appear unreasonable to literally everyone else.

I'm not saying this is a good thing... sexual racism, weight, cis/trans, etc. these are all under the same umbrella when it comes to dating preferences of "things that shouldn't matter ideally but they do, and you're not going to change people's minds." It does you literally no good to berate these people to their faces. When you do, you make them think you hate them. After all, you're calling them scary words like settler colonials or whatever school of social construct theory is en vogue right now.

Accept their allyship where you can. You think you should be able to ride public transport without being harassed? Cool, they do too.

Sexual orientation minorities learned long ago that we could win with people who didn't care for us by advocating the premise that we deserved to be normal people with equal rights to anyone else. We did that by never demanding any right that could be construed as extra, just equal (though we still get accused of it all the time). We deserved access to marriage but only from people who wanted to marry us back. There's nothing extra there. We deserved to not be fired from our jobs (still fighting this one...) for something immutable, similar to race or religion. Every right we have fought for has been couched in the historical battles for equality for other groups.

Trans advocates don't seem to get this point. When you demand that straight men/women date you as women/men, you are demanding something special. Of course, you are in fact whatever gender you identify as, and to you it doesn't feel like a special right - just equal access to dating. But no person has or ever will be compelled to date anyone they don't find attractive. You're demanding access to a relationship with people who don't find trans people attractive by saying "you must find me attractive." The people who already do (or who don't care) are not the problem right? The demand is only of those who don't find you attractive. And their reasons for not finding you attractive may suck, but they are their reasons. If they still see you as a man, they will not date you. If they see you as a "fake" woman, they will not date you. Even many who accept you as full women will not date you because of some other insecurity or just because of a lack of physical attraction (passing is HARD, unfortunately, even after years of transitioning).

But these men who won't date trans women can be your allies in so many other ways if you would stop fighting unwinnable battles that turn them off. You win allies by being like them and gaining empathy. Trans advocates don't realize it, but when they demand people perceive them certain ways, they're crossing that line of equal/special treatment in cis people's eyes.

It's at least somewhat accepted that society can make norms for behavior (i.e. Restaurant has to serve anyone who comes in), but trying to change perceptions top-down is incredibly difficult. 50 years after Loving v Virginia winning the right to interracial marriage, interracial marriage rates are still low and that's because sexual racism did not go away in the past 50 years. Cissexism in dating won't go away either.

People believe they have a right to be attracted to what they're attracted to (in all respects) and being told they don't, or that they are bad people for it, does no one any good.
 

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
Holy shit bro we're talking about the fact that people already ARE attracted to trans women but go to great lengths to deny it with bullshit excuses that don't actually amount to any meaningful distinction. No one is demanding that you must be attracted to them. That was clarified in like my first response to the original conversation starter.
 

Soul Fly

IMMA TEACH YOU WHAT SPLASHIN' MEANS
is a Contributor Alumnus
^because everybody already knows capitalists are stupid... no point insulting them so liberalism is the next best thing so obvv
 
In and of itself not being attracted to a trans person on a wholly physical level isn't transphobic. Trying to act like the assertion is "we have control over whom we're attracted to" is blatant misdirection. Nobody here is saying that. The point is that denying your own genuine attraction to a trans person based on internalised transphobia and ideas of gender roles is transphobic (and transmisogynistic in this case). Equating womanhood to motherhood denies the womanhood of both sterile cis women and cis women who don't want children, beyond just trans women. Claiming women with penises aren't women denies the womanhood of intersex women, and trans women (so long as you're willing to accept that they're women). Saying that you aren't transphobic and then both equating motherhood to womanhood and denying the womanhood of women with penises really proves the opposite. There is very little easily available information on what hetero sex with a trans women is, and that creates a false equivalence to gay sex. It also generally ignores the discomfort of the trans person with their own genitals. The reality is you have no idea what is expected of you and are working with false assumptions.

The problem most commonly brought up surrounding "allies" is that they are not as comfortable with trans people as they make themselves out to be, and then use the fact they consider themselves to be allies to deny their transphobic actions. This shouldn't be enough, but trans people regularly have to accept it over nothing at all. Better than nothing should never be good enough. The fact that a trans person is still friends with you even after you've been transphobic, doesn't mean you weren't or they were okay with what happened. If a trans person had to end every friendship with anyone who had done something transphobic in the time that they had known them, trans people would have even fewer cis friends.

Requesting people be debating in a respectful and calm manner would be reasonable if it weren't for two things. One. The conversation didn't start from a respectful place, it began with transphobic and misogynistic ideas being presented as if they weren't, and then these ideas were defended with further transphobia and misogyny. Saying disrespect has to be met with tranquillity is ridiculous. Anger doesn't prevent a clear and correct point from being made. Two. Not everything is a debate, sometimes you are wrong. A trans person can be wrong even on trans issues, but generally they are going to be better informed and have a wider set of first and second hand experiences to draw from.

Acting like trans people aren't aware of broader issues and are being petty for focusing on seemingly small issues denies any meaningful discourse as it draws focus from specifics onto vaguer generalities. Downplaying the importance of an issue like trans dating to instead focus on issues that don't force you to examine your own prejudices in no way helps the trans community. Just because you see the issues you've brought up as more important doesn't invalidate the "lesser" issue.
 

Posho

local gaymer weeb
is a Tiering Contributoris the Smogon Tour Season 23 Championis a Past SCL Champion
I know some people never expected any of this(or maybe they already suspected it lol), but here I go, this might be one of the first serious posts I ever decide to make, I'm usually just here to play competitive mons, have fun winning tournaments, chatting and meeting lots of wonderful people, so you may not expect this kind of post from someone like me.

Well, despite all the "im gay, i like men"-like memes you guys are used to see me say on the Smogon Discord, I'd like to finally reveal myself, and as a matter of fact, yes, I consider myself gay. The fact that I've been using these kind of jokes quite oftenly is simply because it was my only way to "scream" what I really feel like I am even if it was taken as a joke and noone would believe that, it somehow felt nice, but hiding this is not something I really feel comfortable with, in fact, I feel I need people to know about this side of me. I'm a bit shy so this doesn't come off as easy as you may think, many of you have known me for some years now, and I really can't tell how you're gonna react to all of this. I can say that I'm quite scared as I'm typing this and the closer I get to finish writting the faster goes my heart, but there's something that life's taught me and you have to love yourself as you are, and never deny any of your feelings, even if it is too hard, that's the only way you'll find what makes you happy the most.

This is a bit of a long story, but I'd be glad if you bother reading it: I've always been quite shy at first when I meet people, mostly beacuse I expect them to have a good impression about me, so I use to be quite silent and quiet, but once you get to know me and I've deposited enough trust on you then that's when my true self usually blooms out and people may say that I've changed a lot but that's how I really am, you really can't help it, can you? At first I never had it clear about my sexual preferences, I used to have a girlfriend, who I recently broke up with as I wasn't feeling quite comfortable towards our relationship and I was quite unhesitant to tell her, but finally and for my own sake I did. Point is though, that I've always treated both male and female people the same way. Though, I've never felt anything for any women, like at all, even if I had a girlfriend it was not really that special and as I previously mentioned it wasn't going too well, now, you could say that I'm basing my opinion on just some particular case, but the thing is, that I actually find it more pleasing to spend time with people of my same sex rather than the opposing one, not saying that I hate women or anything, I actually have women friends who are just wonderful as people, and mainly, my own mother, someone who I look up to as a person and the person who supports me the most, so yeah.

I had quite a rough life when I was living in Latinamerica, I moved to Uruguay when I was 10 years old, I had just to farewell my best friends, and could never comunicate with them anymore, which was quite sad for me; but that doesnt compare to what comes next. I met some kids around my neighbourhood, all good, they were welcoming and all that good stuff, but it was just a matter of months when people decided they wanted to be complete assholes with me, never had I been this discriminated and bullied in my life, I'm not the kind of guy that likes picking up fights, I try to be as far away as possible from any violent event, but there were some times where there wasn't any other way out, and man, I really fucking regret all of that. Those events made me want to be isolated in my room, having fun with solely myself and noone else as I didn't feel anyone was good enough to be my friend, and thus I spent many years inside home, with some bare interactions with some of my few friends. All of this made me not develop any feeling towards anyone in particular, I was selfish, only caring about myself as I felt I was one of the few good things that I had left, along with my family sure, but sadly they're not the ones who I specially feel comfortable with talking about this stuff.

After some years of going through some true shit, my parents decided it was time to move back to Spain, I initially tried to prevent them from doing so, I wasn't aware of the shitty lifestyle I was having and I was scared I'd have through the same suffering once again, but nothing I could do and so we came back to our beloved country to restart another life, which I hoped could go my way this time.

We arrived around 1 year ago, on this month actually, I was still going through the same lifestyle I had back in Uruguay, but it was fine since I didn't know anyone in the city so I didn't have any friends whatsoever. Later on, highschool started and boy, this is when things were gonna finally shift. Given my previous behaviours, it resulted a bit difficult at first to try and make friends, hang out with them and all that amusing stuff but I had been encouraged and finally could open myself up a bit to other people. One day we had a school trip to some swamp, I was talking with a classmate along the way, we had spoken quite little but it looked like I already gained his trust, so I was invited to go to the cinema(you cannot imagine how happy I felt at that moment), I felt a bit weird because I wasn't that used to hang out with other people, it doesn't mean I had not, In fact I had but in rarely ocassions and it almost resulted in me wanting to be back home because I wasn't comfortable. So we went to the cinema, saw the film, was good, etc etc. So I left him at home, it felt good honestly, finally having a friend who I can hang out with, for the first time in ages I was feeling like all of that lasted a little bit longer, I didn't want to end my fun right there, but I better did or my parents were gonna kill me! As soon as I arrived home I texted him through Whatsapp, and we had some conversation about the classroom, the movie, some other irrelevant stuff, common things about an average teenagers conversation. Out of the blue, I decided I wanted to tell him what I went through Uruguay, and how I was currently feeling towards myself and the way I was carrying my life, I knew I wasn't fine and there was still a chance for me to change. Right after our convo, he gave me plenty of advice and tried to motivate me, that really made me quite happy because noone ever had treated me like that, besides my parents, who are my primary supporters. We started hanging out more frequently, I was personally enjoying the time I spent with him a lot, until I questioned myself if I was in love with that guy, I had my doubts, I hadn't been in love with someone in a long ass time, so this sensation came off as weird to me, but as the time passed I was more sure of myself, and decided to accept it, I had fallen in love with him and there was no denial. Sadly for me though, he was straight so I wasn't gonna jump in and say that I liked him, even though I wished so, I knew it wasn't the time so I decided to see if I could get lucky enough, just like in Pokémon! and let our relationship develop to the point where I could finally reveal him my true feelings, but that time never came, and I will never know what would have happened if I didn't fuck up anything.

Now, you may be wondering, how'd I fuck it up? Well, let me explain. I wasn't only friends with him, I made some other friends along the way and thus we had some kind of circle. I was a bit tired of containing all of my feelings within me without letting at least anyone know, you could say it'd have been easier if I kept it as a secret, but I didn't feel I was gonna achieve my aim if I at least didn't have some support. So, I told this friend of mine that I liked the guy, though it was a bit difficult to reveal that at first, I was trembling, but I felt it was the best I could do and man, I really do regret having done that, it was such a reckless act. After a month or so, she decided it'd be better if she told him the truth about me, as she felt I was getting too obsessed with him (lol) which wasn't quite true, I only enjoyed spending time with him a lot, I don't feel it's a crime to share your activities with the people you like, but whatever, people like overexagerating things and this little mistake really gave me quite the backfire. I didn't learn he knew I was in love with him until a month later, after I was tired of him being rude out of the sudden and went through some stupid arguements, I didn't know what caused him to become like that(subconciously I did, but I just tried not to believe it) and I suffered a lot from it. I met up with one of my friends and current supporters, and she told me all about this since she knew and recognised I wasn't passing a nice time with all of this unnecessary drama, at that moment I felt so sad, angry, confused, whatever you could imagine, I felt the world fell upon me for a second, everything regarding my relationship with that guy had been just torn apart, and I did nothing but to get mad at that b**ch for what he did, I consider myself easily quite a trust-worthy person, and I always try to help other people as much as possible with their personal problems if they approach me. I felt betrayed, by someone whom I had considered a good friend of mine, I felt I was given some little kicks until they started hurting. I decided to call the guy and try and solve all this mess-up, which I did but it left me with some painful scars that I might last recovering from. After that I never said a word to that girl again, I still had a crush on the guy, but it didn't feel the same anymore, it was weird in fact, but nothing I could do to come back and try to fix everything so I just moved on. Everything was kept cool, or that's what I felt for a month or so when he started being an asshole again for no reason every time I approached him, so I decided to kind of cut out my interactions with him and decided that if he wanted to talk with me, then he should do so. We still talk and stuff sometimes, we're only friends I guess.

After all those events, I confirmed myself what are my sexual preferences, even if I had to go through some stupid and not needed drama, I've been able to open myself up and little by little been losing my shyness towards this. I mean, it's not that easy to make such reveal, but at last you learn that people actually accept you as you are, furthermore, they support you and encourage you to move on and live the life you want, as long as you're able to find happiness, what's the problem? I have a few friends irl whom I've told all about this, even my own mother, and all of them have been supportive, which at first I took as a surprise, as I thought they were gonna react shocked but turns out they did not and, hell, you don't know how relieved and happy I felt about it.

Bad thing though, is that I'm aware some people are quite against homosexuality, and even though I know I should not care about anyone's opinion, one of them includes my father: quite the homophobic, he really doesn't know any of this but the way he reacts and talks towards homosexuality is quite repulsive and I really don't know how's he gonna react, and I don't want to know either. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to move on even if it ends up he's against it, but I don't want to end in any family drama of some sort, so my biggest hope is that when I have to tell him, he accepts it.

Now currently I'm having a good life, I have really good friends both here and in real life, and I couldn't be happier about having met all of you guys, you're people who I will always carry within for the rest of my life.

Thanks dice for all of our nice conversations, they really encouraged me, I was probably a bit embarassed about posting this but I must not be, this is probably gonna be my best decision.

That's Posho for you.
 
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solidarity with any trans folx affected by the trump military ban.

i think it's important to recognise the ways in which folx in the margins often lack means of upward mobility. the military provides one of the few means of financial stability for a population that has much higher houselessness rates [among other things]. it's really easy for some activists to preach from their ivory towers and disavow any and all engagement with the military industrial complex & the ways in which it fuels u.s. imperialism around the globe. i've seen people disregard this ban for days, ignoring the ways in which trans ppl are afflicted harmfully by other institutions.

we need to understand the ways in which trans ppl aren't given the space to navigate their own bodies freely in our society. we can disavow the military industrial complex & also recognise the ways in which the formation of our society gives certain individuals the privilege of having other options. additionally, we need to work together to ensure that liberals do not create yet another political vacuum, much like after gay marriage, and exhaust all resources toward issues instead of actually working to improve the livelihood of all trans folk internationally. we cannot ignore the many angles of trans rights, especially healthcare, to focus solely on one angle which doesn't uplift many folx around the world.
 
let's be real for a second: hormones are mass produced and they're an inexpensive drug.

it's well documented that affirming transgender folx' identities is the best way to alleviate more psychic damage, reduce suicide attempts, hospitalisation, etc. and therefore lower healthcare & insurance costs. fearmongering abt regret & healthcare abuse in order to justify yr agenda seems to be a pretty trendy to do rn. additionally, not all trans folx undergo hormone treatment.

trans rights are human rights. let's keep it that way.
 
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Oglemi

Borf
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Late to the party but RE: changing someone's mind: Getting angry and using hostile language isn't going to change someone's mind. In fact, it's likely going to have the opposite effect. Human nature is to shy away from adversity, as well as to avoid hostility. Combine the two, and your extremely unlikely to change someone's mind. This is the same reason as to why riots in an attempt to affect change don't work... unless you're aiming for a revolution, which is a usurpation of power, so a bit different.

Anyway the point is, I don't blame anyone for getting angry at the kind of things that affect you negatively every day, especially when it's veiled as a pity "but I'm really on your side!" But, there's a lot of literature on how to change someone's mind, as a cursory Google search will show you. A quick selection, although the information across a lot of sites hasn't changed in like 10 years. Google Scholar is obviously going to have better articles but I can no longer bypass the paywall (rip student perks ;-;):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-according-to-science/?utm_term=.b5b97d050e64
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1602.01103v1.pdf
https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/how-to-change-someones-mind.html

You're also not going to change someone's mind wholesale; you'll only ever make incremental changes--this is why changing laws and policies doesn't enact immediate mindset changes (I mean, among other reasons). This is also why asking for small steps is important, and why winning gay marriage was such a huge deal and still is. Positiveness towards gayness continues to go upwards in the country, despite the powers that be that are currently in power being largely against it http://www.gallup.com/poll/210566/support-gay-marriage-edges-new-high.aspx (ik gallup isn't ideal but they do have a graph showing yearly progression).

I guess what I'm saying is, the poster on the previous page was using transphobic language and talking about it in a setting that deeply affects transpeople on the personal level (being dismissed outright, ignorance of sexual organs). However, the poster even admitted feeling positiveness towards transpeople. The user didn't come in the thread accusing trans people of being a bunch of (BAN ME PLEASE) and wishing they didn't exist, he, as he put it, didn't see a transwoman as being a viable future sexual partner. This is very important and a step towards changing their mind to fully accepting the possibility of being attracted romantically/sexually to transwomen, and is probably how they are able to have trans-friends irl. He was frustrated with the clashing of his positive feelings towards transpeople as a people and their anger towards his unwillingness to accept them as romantic/sexual partners. Those friends understand that changing someone's mind takes time, and the best way to affect that long-term change is to provide continuous positive examples and encouragement to see trans-people in a positive light (apart from you know, being friends). Posting hostilely by calling them a piece of shit for having what they see as a valid viewpoint (wanting their own genetic children) will not enact a mindset change; in fact, it could even have the opposite effect.

Now, I can't speak towards the plight that transpeople go through on a daily basis. I couldn't understand how it must feel to be accused of lying or deceiving people when trying to date someone, or even being able get to that point by being dismissed on a basic level. However, I can speak as a gay man that the country is getting there. The country has been progressing towards tolerance and acceptance for years. I remember as a kid how deep and strong homophobia was in the country, in the state, in my hometown, and how deeply it affected me in high school. How terrified and scared I was of people finding out. Now, that all seems funny to me, and I go days at a time (well less now with Trump in the news all the time) without thinking about if I'm being "too gay" or anything like that. I have a loving partner and we're moving in together in a couple weeks; even just 4 years ago I found the idea of being able to find a partner laughable, especially if I was back in my hometown.

Take and embrace the positiveness as it comes. Shelter, isolate, and grow the positiveness and highlight the negativeness as it comes. Affect change by being angry, but channel that anger and use it correctly.
 
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I have a question in regards to sexual relations (I'm gay and a virgin) and was wondering if somebody would be comfortable answering some questions for me? I don't know how comfortable I am publicly asking so I'd like for someone to PM me if possible.
 
i see where ur coming from bro this tone policing is honestly bullshit. well-intentioned but not progressive, not radical, barely helpful. the lowest form of allyship. reminds me precisely of the white moderate MLK talks about in Letter From Birmingham.

i agree that the hostility (which was super justified) isnt necessarily the best way to convert that user into being less transphobic. but everything a trans person says or writes shouldn't be expected to be crafted perfectly with the intent to persuade. that's an absurd burden to place on a social group hanging on the bottom steps of the ladder. sometimes they wanna go off, and they fucking should. we cis people, armed with the information your articles provide us (or common knowledge, w/e), can use our emotional distance from this issue to a) validate the outrage demonstrated and b) provide an appropriate and persuasive response to bring the person in question closer to our side.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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i see where ur coming from bro this tone policing is honestly bullshit. well-intentioned but not progressive, not radical, barely helpful. the lowest form of allyship. reminds me precisely of the white moderate MLK talks about in Letter From Birmingham.

i agree that the hostility (which was super justified) isnt necessarily the best way to convert that user into being less transphobic. but everything a trans person says or writes shouldn't be expected to be crafted perfectly with the intent to persuade. that's an absurd burden to place on a social group hanging on the bottom steps of the ladder. sometimes they wanna go off, and they fucking should. we cis people, armed with the information your articles provide us (or common knowledge, w/e), can use our emotional distance from this issue to a) validate the outrage demonstrated and b) provide an appropriate and persuasive response to bring the person in question closer to our side.
The major point I was trying to make is this, as an analogy: you shouldn't call everyone that didn't believe in gay marriage but had positiveness towards gay people pieces of shit, even though being against gay marriage but being "pro gay" doesn't make any rational sense (not a perfect analogy to what occurred here but still). It's important to keep in mind where a person is at on the scale of acceptance when getting angry at what they're saying. There is a difference in anger that I should feel at someone for flat out calling me a (BAN ME PLEASE) and ignoring my issues offhand just for existing as a gay person, vs someone on the scale of accepting me being gay but being against aspects of gayness, vs someone fully accepting my gayness. It is important to check your anger at the person that's somewhere in the middle because you could be the very difference between the tipping points to where they end up on acceptance, especially if you ignore the part where they are half way there and only attack the non-acceptance.

We don't always act rational when angry, and keeping the above in mind is sometimes impossible. I've slipped multiple times myself, everyone has, which is why I said I don't blame anyone for getting angry. I also agree that those that hold transphobic and homophobic thoughts should be exposed to their anger, and not just mammy-pandy, calm pleading for acceptance. However, the user came into the thread with a valid concern (in his eyes), a rational clashing of ideas and experiences, and was met largely with pretty severe hostility, which is the exact opposite of what would have been effective in changing the outcome to make them less transphobic. Instead, he was met with the exact thing that was instigating his internal clash without much in the way of addressing the positive feelings he felt.
 

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
Yeah you're right we could have treated him nicer but ultimately he's a Cishet guy who came in and sounded off against trans people, was corrected and told to get out of a space that doesn't at all belong to him to voice his bland ass concerns. Could we have used this opportunity to educate him and persuade him, yeah probably, but I'm not super down for this place becoming "hey we're LGBTQIA+, Cishets come AMA we're here for your viewing/berating pleasure"
 

sleepy3

Banned deucer.
Yeah you're right we could have treated him nicer but ultimately he's a Cishet guy who came in and sounded off against trans people, was corrected and told to get out of a space that doesn't at all belong to him to voice his bland ass concerns. Could we have used this opportunity to educate him and persuade him, yeah probably, but I'm not super down for this place becoming "hey we're LGBTQIA+, Cishets come AMA we're here for your viewing/berating pleasure"
You're barely LGBT yourself, who made you spokesman? This kind of paternalism regularly alienates trans people from the larger LGBT community. Stay in your lane.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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Yeah you're right we could have treated him nicer but ultimately he's a Cishet guy who came in and sounded off against trans people, was corrected and told to get out of a space that doesn't at all belong to him to voice his bland ass concerns. Could we have used this opportunity to educate him and persuade him, yeah probably, but I'm not super down for this place becoming "hey we're LGBTQIA+, Cishets come AMA we're here for your viewing/berating pleasure"
Sorry but the idea of "owning spaces" in an open forum like this is baby-grade nonsense. I welcome all types to field their questions here, as long as it's genuine.
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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Ok so this descended into a shit-slinging contest instead of actual discussion. I just deleted everything after Oglemi's response to TheValkyries's post. This topic ends here; move on please.
 

Posho

local gaymer weeb
is a Tiering Contributoris the Smogon Tour Season 23 Championis a Past SCL Champion
Well, just to give out a quick status, apologies if I may deviate from the current topic:

It has been a while since I made my coming out post and I have to say that I've never been this relieved, countless people have messaged me with really nice and supportive comments and you guys really have made me feel I'm not alone in this, even skimming through this thread and its so many stories I've come to realize that there are plenty of people who have gone through similar situations such as mine, or even worse due to relatives or whoever not accepting them as they are and want to be like, whether you're trans, gay, straight, that won't affect you negatively in any way, people can be really wonderful regardless of their preferences, but yeah, sadly not everyone sees with the same eyes. I wish the best of luck with their lives to all those people who bravely came here and came out, accepting themselves as they are, you guys are just incredible and should have the will to never let anyone stand upon you.

As of me, I want to become openly gay, I've been hanging out with some people who know I am and it feels really nice to let your true persona out, staring at handsome guys has never been this enjoyable! :) But the thing is that not most of my peers know anything about this and they're people who have known me for a year now, and although I was able to reveal it to a large community, let's just be real, it's the internet and there are some big differences with coming out to other people in real life. I'm really not ashamed nor am I shy of being homosexual but one can't just imagine how'd other people react, even though I know they'd perfectly accept it, I'm pretty sure they even suspect it though, I've been asked if I was gay a few times but I just denied it, which kind of makes me feel bad because I wasn't sincere with them from the very begining but I'm still in time to change that. If someone were to ask me I'd probably tell the truth, but I don't know if I should just come out right away, I'm quite insecure yet but nothing would make me happier than people recognising me as I am.

Have a nice day :)
 

Ditto

/me huggles
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Hey everyone, I posted this message over a year ago.

Hey all,

I'm currently in Post Production for my thesis film, Straight Outta Closet, and I wanted to thank the people in this thread for being a source of inspiration for it. While I haven't been very active on the site in awhile, I did check in on several sections and threads. This was one of them. So if people don't mind, I'd like to share a little something I wrote about the project.

"Straight Outta Closet is a reversal of the coming out story that shows a different side to it. Seth, a heterosexual man who everyone thinks is gay, struggles telling his homosexual best friends that he's straight.

My undergrad was in Musical Theatre and, as stereotypical as it may sound, many of my friends and classmates during that time were gay. Most of them still are. Over the years I had heard many different stories from different people about coming out, whether it be someone coming out to their friends, family, or even themselves. I saw the pain in some of my best friends’ eyes as they struggled with their sexuality.

There’s a lot of media that highlights the many struggles that LGBT people have endured, and continue to endure, over countless years of discrimination. I don’t want to belittle those struggles, because I feel they’ve been belittled enough by many others. At the same time though, I feel that this attention can potentially create more fear in the closeted or questioning members of the community. In Straight Outta Closet, Seth struggles to come out to his friends. It’s his struggle within himself to say something. After the initial shock of Seth’s heterosexuality, Angelica and Jack continuously try to tell Seth that they accept him. This isn’t a story about winning over friends. Instead the main struggle is that Seth keeps interrupting their words of acceptance. The build up of fear in Seth is the only thing standing in his way. In the end, it doesn’t take any special words to show that they accept Seth. All Angelica and Jack have to do is just continue to treat him the same and Seth finally realizes he’s been accepted the whole time.

Why did I make this film? I wanted to show a lighter side to coming out. I wanted to show that there are already people that accept you. I’m not saying that there aren’t struggles, but just showing that it doesn’t have to be only about the struggles."

So to everyone who might read this, I want you to know that there are many here that accept you for who you are. Not everyone in life is going to, but lean on us if you need. It can get better, but you need to help us help you. Don't feel afraid to show who you truly are to people, even if maybe it isn't everyone. I wish you all the best of luck, and humbly thank you once again.
I'm now finally posting it online, and wanted to thank the openness of people in this thread for being an inspiration.
 

MAMP

MAMP!
alright, here goes

tl;dr: I'm having some Gender Feelings™ and I think I might be a girl

Around April last year, my friend Chloe made a post in this thread about her being trans. At the time I didn't really know much about trans people or what it meant to be trans, so I did some research. I found myself on /r/asktransgender, where I read a bunch of posts by trans people talking about their experiences. Much to my surprise, I found myself really relating to a lot of the posts that I read. This awoke something in me, and led me to ask myself some difficult questions. Questions like:

Why do I always choose a girl avatar when I'm playing videogames?
Why do I never correct people when they call me 'she' online?
Why have stories with female protagonists always appealed to me so much more than those with male protags?
Why did I spend so much time pretending to be a girl on omegle when I was 14?
Why have I always felt so much more comfortable hanging out with girls than with guys?
Why am I a girl in my dreams half the time?
Why do I always feel so jealous of that gay guy in my writing class who wears thigh highs and a hair bow?
Why did it feel so natural when I wore a dress for the school play that one time?

This has been gnawing away at me for more than a year and I don't think I can keep it to myself any longer. I'm still very unsure about what I'm feeling, and I need more time to work this out, but for now I think I'm a girl.

In hindsight I probably should have figured this out earlier. I’ve never really connected with traditional masculinity and I’ve always been pretty effeminate irl. I’ve struggled with this weird sense of not belonging when I hung out with guys that I couldn’t really explain until now.

Here's the thing: I don't really experience any strong sense of dysphoria. I don't feel uncomfortable in my body. I'd really like to be a girl, and if I could choose to be born a girl I'd do it, but I'm not really unhappy living and presenting as a man. The idea of transitioning is honestly really scary to me and I'm not sure if that's something that I want to do.

I'm still trying to figure out a lot of things about myself, but for now I'd like it if people would refer to me as a girl and use feminine pronouns (she/her). This is just to test the waters, I guess. I’m not ready to come out irl yet bc I’m still not fully sure what I’m feeling.

Shoutouts Chloe, talking to you and reading your post in this thread led me to discover something new and important about myself. C:

p.s I think I like the name Phoebe
 
That first little while after you start realizing these things can be utterly terrifying (or at least, it was for me), but once you start to sort yourself out everything gets better. Congratulations (because this really is an achievement)!

Sounds like you have your bases covered, but if you (or for that matter, any other trans/questioning folk here), want to talk to me or ask me about anything, I'm always happy to. For reference, I'm genderqueer and transfemale.

I wish you the best of luck figuring yourself out! It's one hell of a journey.
 

Posho

local gaymer weeb
is a Tiering Contributoris the Smogon Tour Season 23 Championis a Past SCL Champion
Hey, wanted to post again because this is a thought that's been crossing my mind.

So, after all I've been going through I was finally able to come out to my classmates (in a weird context but I did lol) and basically my entire class knows I'm gay, and they've been so nice about it, and the acceptance and support I've been given is amazing, I even learned one of my teachers was gay and I had pretty nice conversations with her about the topic. Basically I'm speechless with how many positive things accepting and being myself has given to me.

The thing is however, Christmas is closer, I'm gonna go visit my entire family, and when they ask me about girlfriends and stuff I'm gonna feel pretty awkward, because I'd like them to know about it, but just as usual, I'm so unsure on how they're gonna react. Unlike my friends and classmates, who I knew would be so okay with it, I don't know what their reaction is gonna be like if they ever happen to know. Ideally, I'd like to tell them directly and just get it off my chest, but may be I'm just rushing things and I should just let everything flow.
 
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